"It's what's in the grooves that counts" - David Ruffin - "Walk Away From Love" -only one of my favorite 10 songs ever; ABBA - "S.O.S."; Ruffin's version of "I Want You Back"

sevensman YouTube Channel: David Ruffin - "Walk Away From Love" on "Soul Train" with Don Cornelius. (1975) Uploaded July 20, 2010. http://youtu.be/APlXHfhbiVw

Truly, a perfect three-minute song.
So much immense talent, so much towering ego, so many inner demons...  and that crazy amazing emotive voice that never failed to get your attention.
That June day in 1991 that I heard on the radio that David Ruffin had died, I actually cried.

As for the video at the top of this post, I remember the Saturday morning that I first saw him performing this song on Soul Train in 1975, when I was fourteen-years old.
That was back when the show aired in South Florida on the then-independent Channel 6, WCIX-TV, down on Brickell Avenue, back when, pre-Radio Mambi, WAQI, that street also was the home of Storer Broadcasting's WGBS-AM 710, the then-number one sports radio station in South Florida, with its 50,000 Watts booming from that beautiful brick building on the corner known as the 710 Building.
  
As ridiculous as some of Soul Train's conventions could sometimes be, especially its not always so well-disguised lip-syncing, I watched that show religiously every Saturday morning.
Some posts on Miami TV and Radio of that era will be forthcoming in the new year

Below, David Ruffin as he appeared and sang the song on ABC-TV's American Bandstand with Dick Clark on the November 16, 1975 telecast:


David Ruffin - Walk Away From Love (Amer by sagelion13

Also appearing on that show - a band from Sweden that you may've heard of.
ABBA did a killer version of "S.O.S" as you can see from Shay's video.


2Shaymcn YouTube Channel: ABBA - "S.O.S." on ABC-TV's "American Bandstand " with Dick Clark, November 1975. Uploaded January 20, 2012. http://youtu.be/6OOrleE6wfc



MrManuel822 YouTube Channel video: David Ruffin - I want You Back (1971). Uploaded on February 13, 2012. http://youtu.be/WGBdb8ganDY

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Ruffin

http://www.pbase.com/donboyd/memories_music_radio_new

SOS for PBS: My favorite TV critic, Aaron Barnhart of K.C. Star, does a postmortem of PBS's past & future in his review of new 'Upstairs, Downstairs'

ABBA - SOS (1975)
http://youtu.be/cvChjHcABPA


SOS for PBS!
My favorite TV critic, Aaron Barnhart of the Kansas City Star does a skillful postmortem on PBS' recent past and bleak drama programming future in his Sunday review of the new incarnation of 'Upstairs, Downstairs'; he's 100% right!

Aaron uses the scalpel adroitly and knows how to get to the heart of the matter in a way that's both amusing and logical for readers, while also sharing lots of useful historical context to better illustrate his prescient comments.

That, of course, explains why he's so popular and why his blog, TV Barn, has been one of the leading entertainment blogs for years, as I've mentioned here in the past.
http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/television/
http://www.tvbarn.com/newsletter/

It's why TV Barn has been on my blog roll ever since I started this blog over four years ago. That's not by accident.


The Kansas City Star
PBS is going nowhere with ‘Upstairs, Downstairs’
By Aaron Barnhart
Posted on Sat, Apr. 09, 2011 10:15 PM

After a 34-year hiatus, “Upstairs, Downstairs” is returning to PBS and, perhaps unintentionally, serving as a reminder of what public television used to be and the kind of trouble it’s in today.

If you are past a certain age, you will likely remember the original “Upstairs, Downstairs.” It was dreamed up by Jean Marsh and Eileen Atkins, two actresses in their 40s who were inspired by “The Forsyte Saga,” the popular adaptation of John Galsworthy’s novels of upper-crust life that aired on the BBC in 1967.

Read the rest of the article at: http://www.kansascity.com/2011/04/09/2784536/pbs-is-going-nowhere-with-upstairs.html

His killer ending:

In a few months, when NPR steers out of these troubled waters — as it surely will, under new leadership — it will be the little tugboat with an aging cruise ship in tow, a vessel too weak to power itself anymore, the good ship PBS.

The backstory on Aaron Barnhart is here, if you're curious:
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/search/label/Aaron%20Barnhart

http://www.pbs.org/


SOS for PBS? Bad news!
SOS by ABBA? Great news!



ABBA - SOS (As seen on Don Kirshner's Rock Concert; taped in Los Angeles, November 1975)
http://youtu.be/_JzXhC2yV9c

Shay is one of the world's greatest ABBA fans and nobody-but-nobody sweats the details on the history and music of ABBA and Agnetha Fältskog like he does.

Shay's YouTube Channel for ABBA, with an emphasis on HQ picture and sound quality: http://www.youtube.com/user/2Shaymcn

His non-ABBA music YouTubeChannel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/SHAYMCN1

Meanwhile, over at the official ABBA Vevo Channel, they've got lots of the hits.
En español? Si, claro!
http://www.youtube.com/user/AbbaVEVO

See also:
Sara Russell's ABBA ON TV website: http://www.abbaontv.com/index.html